When making a table saw sled, there’s often a bit of final fussing with the wooden runners to ensure that the sled slides easily but without side-to-side play. This usually involves selectively sanding, scraping, or planing away any deviant sections on the runners. I’ve found that the best way to target the problem areas is to first scrub a wide-lead carpenter’s pencil across the shoulders of the saw table slots to load them with graphite. Then, pushing the sled back and forth transfers the graphite to the errant spots for easy identification.
—Mark Bannon, Denver, Colorado
